Emergency patching of brown area in lawn
 

We just found out that we have to sell our house by September because of
a job change. Our front lawn looks good except for a brown patch near
the street, which was caused by someone spilling a corrosive liquid on
it about a year ago. It is a fairly large 2 X 3 feet area. I thought
it might take care of itself with frequent watering but it still looks
bad after more than a year. What can I do to make the brown area green?
I live in Western Washington where we still have showers fairly
frequently. It seems late to plant grass seeds. I wonder if I should
cut out the brown area and replace it with sod. Thanks for any advice
or suggestions.

Emergency patching of brown area in lawn
 

.... sounds right, or a can of green paint matched for color......
if you know what the corrosive liquid was you might be able to
neutralize it so the sod will live.

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 00:02:41 -0800, tenplay wrote:

We just found out that we have to sell our house by September because of
a job change. Our front lawn looks good except for a brown patch near
the street, which was caused by someone spilling a corrosive liquid on
it about a year ago. It is a fairly large 2 X 3 feet area. I thought
it might take care of itself with frequent watering but it still looks
bad after more than a year. What can I do to make the brown area green?
I live in Western Washington where we still have showers fairly
frequently. It seems late to plant grass seeds. I wonder if I should
cut out the brown area and replace it with sod. Thanks for any advice
or suggestions.

Emergency patching of brown area in lawn
 

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 00:02:41 -0800, tenplay wrote:
We just found out that we have to sell our house by September because of
a job change. Our front lawn looks good except for a brown patch near
the street, which was caused by someone spilling a corrosive liquid on
it about a year ago. It is a fairly large 2 X 3 feet area. I thought
it might take care of itself with frequent watering but it still looks
bad after more than a year. What can I do to make the brown area green?

What was the chemical spilled? If it's not persistent, I'd patch with
sod, probably stolen from another spot in the yard (need a flower bed
extension) or even from the neighbors if you've got a good gardening
buddy. Even though it's going in as sod, I would probably dig out the
soil directly under the spot for 6" or so and replace with something
clean.

You'll need to keep watering this summer...

Kay

Emergency patching of brown area in lawn
 

Kay Lancaster wrote:
On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 00:02:41 -0800, tenplay wrote:
We just found out that we have to sell our house by September because of
a job change. Our front lawn looks good except for a brown patch near
the street, which was caused by someone spilling a corrosive liquid on
it about a year ago. It is a fairly large 2 X 3 feet area. I thought
it might take care of itself with frequent watering but it still looks
bad after more than a year. What can I do to make the brown area green?

What was the chemical spilled? If it's not persistent, I'd patch with
sod, probably stolen from another spot in the yard (need a flower bed
extension) or even from the neighbors if you've got a good gardening
buddy. Even though it's going in as sod, I would probably dig out the
soil directly under the spot for 6" or so and replace with something
clean.

You'll need to keep watering this summer...

Kay


I have no idea what the chemical was, but it sure is persistent. I'll
ask a neighbor or two, but I'll probably have to buy the sod. It makes
sense to replace the soil directly under the brown area. I have a large
yard so replacement soil is readily available. Thanks for the advice. Mike

Emergency patching of brown area in lawn
 

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:08:17 -0800, tenplay wrote:
I have no idea what the chemical was, but it sure is persistent. I'll
ask a neighbor or two, but I'll probably have to buy the sod. It makes
sense to replace the soil directly under the brown area. I have a large
yard so replacement soil is readily available. Thanks for the advice. Mike

Because sod is typically grown under very high fertilization, the sod
patch you put in front should probably come from your own yard... even if
the donor spot you use is from the back yard, and you patch
that with commercial sod. The commercial sod is
likely to be much greener than your own lawn, and differences will remain
even if you fertilize the rest of the lawn. That bright green patch is
going to look as odd as the brown patch now. At least to me it would.

Also different cultivars of grasses and mixtures of grasses have different
overall color.. so patching from your own lawn in a prominent position
like this gives you a better chance of blending the patch in.

Kay